I don't follow the logic. They didn't exist despite there being a need until the DWP told people they existed and then suddenly they appeared. Terry Pratchett would be proud.
They existed, but in small numbers.
Then a previous solution to a problem (crisis loans) was removed, and government agencies encouraged people to use food banks instead.
Food bank usage therefore went up. Consequently, good-minded people (and the churches have been very strong at this) thought there was a need and started organising more foodbanks.
Fundamentally all that has happened is that an element of welfare provision has moved from the state to the Big Society. But it's in a practical form (food), that is less open to abuse, and is a wasting asset in any event. So, all in all, a better use of resources.
But it's difficult to put that up against a cheap soundbite.
The counter-soundbite is that the last Labour Govt. left more people to starve because it was inefficient.....
Labour still walking into a trap on NHS spending. There is £20bn worth of spending rises in the budget that have not been outlined. If they can't see where this money is going then they are in trouble.
Real terms spending rises for the NHS that Labour won't be able to match because they are protecting spending in other areas as well as the NHS.
You think the journalists will be able to scrutinize just detail and hold those to account making promises they can't keep? Last GE, they didn't pick up on the fact Labour was planning to cut the NHS to make even their pie in the sky figure kinda of work.
It was just programmed in to reports and public perception..Labour wouldn't do such a thing to the NHS, the Tories might.
Burnham showing his lack of practical nous. Neil: When will the extra money for NHS etc come from in 2015/16? Burnham = The money will start flowing (from the mansion tax and loopholes) straight away....
Isn't that money being spent on extra nurses in scotland already?
You mean extra nurses across the UK some of whom (circa 8%) will be in Scotland.
@blairmcdougall: End of the pink champagne betrayal narrative? Just 3.4% voted no because of The Vow while 5.2% voted no because they didn't trust Salmond.
I've looked at the slides of the preliminary results and they actually define the biggest indicator as willingness to take risks and face fear.
Literally people less scared of spiders were more likely to vote Yes.
The question about what was the biggest factor is a weird collection of 6 1 Because independence would have made Scotland worse off economically 2 I wanted to vote ‘Yes’ but in the end it seemed a bit too risky 3 Because Scotland is going to get the extra powers I want anyway 4 Because I didn’t trust Alex Salmond 5 Because I feel British and believe in the Union 6 Because there were too many unanswered questions
The result mesh realtively closely with Ashcrifts findings except Ashcroft found that 25% of people listed "More Powers" as their most important reason for voting No.
Given the actual margin of 5.5% or so, 3.4% is quite a fair chunk of that - and that does not take into account these for whom the Vow was a contributory reason.
When was the survey done? A delayed polling date raises questions about retrosepctive reliability, and also raises the issue of buyer's remorse in those who feel fooled/cheated by the vow.
But, in any case, that does not change the practical point that the Unionists believed it was necessary and made the Vow - and are now being held to it.
Burnham showing his lack of practical nous. Neil: When will the extra money for NHS etc come from in 2015/16? Burnham = The money will start flowing (from the mansion tax and loopholes) straight away....
That will raise a drop in the ocean. How stupid does he think people are? (you don't need to answer that)
Miliband claimed that these various polices would raise "hundreds of millions" only last night. Another opportunity for Paxo to laugh at him that he scorned for some reason. NHS budget currently north of 120 thousand millions.
Burnham showing his lack of practical nous. Neil: When will the extra money for NHS etc come from in 2015/16? Burnham = The money will start flowing (from the mansion tax and loopholes) straight away....
Even with the magic money tree you have to wait for it to grown a little bit.
We can all laugh at the silly things they say, but really shouldn't Labour politicians know the basics?
Labour could be running the country in six weeks time and it's plain to see that they have done very little meaningful preparation. This is not a group of people who have crunched the numbers, been properly briefed, and have some idea of what they will be doing over the next few months. It's a group of people that are winging it in every way.
Burnham showing his lack of practical nous. Neil: When will the extra money for NHS etc come from in 2015/16? Burnham = The money will start flowing (from the mansion tax and loopholes) straight away....
Even with the magic money tree you have to wait for it to grown a little bit.
We can all laugh at the silly things they say, but really shouldn't Labour politicians know the basics?
Labour could be running the country in six weeks time and it's plain to see that they have done very little meaningful preparation. This is not a group of people who have crunched the numbers, been properly briefed, and have some idea of what they will be doing over the next few months. It's a group of people that are winging it in every way.
We should be worry, very worried. Again Burnham is another that people like to say well he would be an excellent leader, he is really good. His record is nothing of the sort.
What is also piss poor is our media who don't seem to want, care or able to react when politician throw out nonsense like this.
Burnham showing his lack of practical nous. Neil: When will the extra money for NHS etc come from in 2015/16? Burnham = The money will start flowing (from the mansion tax and loopholes) straight away....
Isn't that money being spent on extra nurses in scotland already?
You mean extra nurses across the UK some of whom (circa 8%) will be in Scotland.
Hang on, that is a devolved matter (also in Wales and NI). But we aren't voting on devolved governments this year.
Burnham showing his lack of practical nous. Neil: When will the extra money for NHS etc come from in 2015/16? Burnham = The money will start flowing (from the mansion tax and loopholes) straight away....
That will raise a drop in the ocean. How stupid does he think people are? (you don't need to answer that)
Miliband claimed that these various polices would raise "hundreds of millions" only last night. Another opportunity for Paxo to laugh at him that he scorned for some reason. NHS budget currently north of 120 thousand millions.
Yes, I feel Paxman soft pedalled on the policy side and went in way to hot on the personal stuff. The raising of hundred of millions vs an £88bn deficit he may inherit is a joke. Paxman should have contrasted that and asked Ed where the rest of the £87bn would come from.
Burnham showing his lack of practical nous. Neil: When will the extra money for NHS etc come from in 2015/16? Burnham = The money will start flowing (from the mansion tax and loopholes) straight away....
That will raise a drop in the ocean. How stupid does he think people are? (you don't need to answer that)
Miliband claimed that these various polices would raise "hundreds of millions" only last night. Another opportunity for Paxo to laugh at him that he scorned for some reason. NHS budget currently north of 120 thousand millions.
I would expect the mansion tax to be extended a lot. Say down to £1m houses, and more and more taken in %.
@philiph "Hitchinbrooke" shows that the tariffs are wrong, even for the private sector? As I said, the problem exists and needs a solution.
Lansley reforms have created a conflict of interest where some providers also commission services.
As a result Acute Trusts are being bankrupted with less than cost payments for Emergency Care.
Even Circle concur.
Solution repeal the Lansley reforms
Easy
The problem lies with the tariffs (set nationally by the DoH) that make a lot of emergency services non viable.
My own departments contract for next year is for the same work as this year on a block contract. Anything over that we will not get paid for. With referrals rising about 5% per year we will need to turn back a fair amount of work to balance the books.
Funny way to run a business, or a needs based health service.
Labour still walking into a trap on NHS spending. There is £20bn worth of spending rises in the budget that have not been outlined. If they can't see where this money is going then they are in trouble.
Real terms spending rises for the NHS that Labour won't be able to match because they are protecting spending in other areas as well as the NHS.
You think the journalists will be able to scrutinize just detail and hold those to account making promises they can't keep? Last GE, they didn't pick up on the fact Labour was planning to cut the NHS to make even their pie in the sky figure kinda of work.
It was just programmed in to reports and public perception..Labour wouldn't do such a thing to the NHS, the Tories might.
Indeed. Problematic for Dave that journalists are so useless on holding Labour to account on spending.
Paul Waugh @paulwaugh 8s9 seconds ago Asked about SNP, Miliband: "The only Coalition I'm interested in is a coalition of working families across our country."
That sounds like it's been lifted from The Thick of It.
Given the actual margin of 5.5% or so, 3.4% is quite a fair chunk of that - and that does not take into account these for whom the Vow was a contributory reason.
When was the survey done? A delayed polling date raises questions about retrosepctive reliability, and also raises the issue of buyer's remorse in those who feel fooled/cheated by the vow.
But, in any case, that does not change the practical point that the Unionists believed it was necessary and made the Vow - and are now being held to it.
I think people haven't actually looked at the report
The BBC have announced that Jeremy Clarkson’s contract for Top Gear will not be renewed, and that the programme will continue with a different presenter. Do you think this is the right or wrong decision by the BBC?
Right decision 59%
Wrong decision 29%
DK 12%
Interesting that only Kippers had more saying it was a wrong decision than the right one.
So on this question Kippers really contrast strongly with their peer group.
The Kippers pay scrutinising - they sometimes live in a different world to the rest of us - I recall one poll where they were substantially more likely to have seen a cyclist go through a red light than any other party's supporters.....
Burnham showing his lack of practical nous. Neil: When will the extra money for NHS etc come from in 2015/16? Burnham = The money will start flowing (from the mansion tax and loopholes) straight away....
That will raise a drop in the ocean. How stupid does he think people are? (you don't need to answer that)
Miliband claimed that these various polices would raise "hundreds of millions" only last night. Another opportunity for Paxo to laugh at him that he scorned for some reason. NHS budget currently north of 120 thousand millions.
I would expect the mansion tax to be extended a lot. Say down to £1m houses, and more and more taken in %.
And the rest....within 10 years it will be down to normal levels of house prices, because it is such an easy tax to collect.
Some might say that is great, less avoidance of tax, but I somehow doubt we will see reductions in Income Tax or Council Tax to offset the hit to "normal" folk.
Burnham showing his lack of practical nous. Neil: When will the extra money for NHS etc come from in 2015/16? Burnham = The money will start flowing (from the mansion tax and loopholes) straight away....
Isn't that money being spent on extra nurses in scotland already?
You mean extra nurses across the UK some of whom (circa 8%) will be in Scotland.
Hang on, that is a devolved matter (also in Wales and NI). But we aren't voting on devolved governments this year.
Mansion tax is subject to a vote in less than 6 weeks time.
I will be voting for it in the knowledge that 8% of what it raises goes to the Scottish NHS.
Presumably you will vote against it as you think people in £2m mansions paying extra is a bad way to fund extra nurses for the NHS
@Scott_P It gives each commissioning group the power to set the levels according to individual local needs. It might not be a good solution, but the problem exists, as some people have pointed out before.
Is the NHS too big / complex to manage effectively?
Not necessarily. A single NHS was done away with some time, wales is administered outside of westminister, as is Scotland. With a good chunk of the NHS managed as autonomous trusts.
Burnham showing his lack of practical nous. Neil: When will the extra money for NHS etc come from in 2015/16? Burnham = The money will start flowing (from the mansion tax and loopholes) straight away....
That will raise a drop in the ocean. How stupid does he think people are? (you don't need to answer that)
Miliband claimed that these various polices would raise "hundreds of millions" only last night. Another opportunity for Paxo to laugh at him that he scorned for some reason. NHS budget currently north of 120 thousand millions.
I would expect the mansion tax to be extended a lot. Say down to £1m houses, and more and more taken in %.
If introduced, does anyone realistically imagine the 'Mansion Tax' would stop at £2million?
It will go exactly the same way as inheritance tax and soon penalise those much further down the chain.
Burnham showing his lack of practical nous. Neil: When will the extra money for NHS etc come from in 2015/16? Burnham = The money will start flowing (from the mansion tax and loopholes) straight away....
That will raise a drop in the ocean. How stupid does he think people are? (you don't need to answer that)
Miliband claimed that these various polices would raise "hundreds of millions" only last night. Another opportunity for Paxo to laugh at him that he scorned for some reason. NHS budget currently north of 120 thousand millions.
I would expect the mansion tax to be extended a lot. Say down to £1m houses, and more and more taken in %.
And the rest....within 10 years it will be down to normal levels of house prices, because it is such an easy tax to collect.
I could easily see it being extended down to £500k within 10 years as it would not effect very much of Labour's core vote and hit the Tories very hard.
Burnham showing his lack of practical nous. Neil: When will the extra money for NHS etc come from in 2015/16? Burnham = The money will start flowing (from the mansion tax and loopholes) straight away....
Isn't that money being spent on extra nurses in scotland already?
You mean extra nurses across the UK some of whom (circa 8%) will be in Scotland.
Hang on, that is a devolved matter (also in Wales and NI). But we aren't voting on devolved governments this year.
Mansion tax is subject to a vote in less than 6 weeks time.
I will be voting for it in the knowledge that 8% of what it raises goes to the Scottish NHS.
Presumably you will vote against it as you think people in £2m mansions mostly in England paying extra is a bad way to fund extra nurses for the NHS in Scotland
There, corrected it for you.
Actually I think it's a crap idea, but would be open to extending Council Tax bands.
I work in a heavily regulated company - if it wasn't regulated, the public would be screwed a million times over.
The right-wing loons who live on this blog may disagree but the public are very supportive of the regulation / price cap / prize freeze principle.
It may be highly populist, but Milliband is onto a winner here....
Price controls are actually quite rare in our economy, and largely restricted to monopoly services that were once public owned.. Such as water, railway tickets and energy generation (though not energy providers), bt openreach wholesaleaccess pricing.
Burnham showing his lack of practical nous. Neil: When will the extra money for NHS etc come from in 2015/16? Burnham = The money will start flowing (from the mansion tax and loopholes) straight away....
That will raise a drop in the ocean. How stupid does he think people are? (you don't need to answer that)
Miliband claimed that these various polices would raise "hundreds of millions" only last night. Another opportunity for Paxo to laugh at him that he scorned for some reason. NHS budget currently north of 120 thousand millions.
I would expect the mansion tax to be extended a lot. Say down to £1m houses, and more and more taken in %.
If introduced, does anyone realistically imagine the 'Mansion Tax' would stop at £2million? It will go exactly the same way as inheritance tax and soon penalise those much further down the chain.
I agree. Peston's recent article has the view from the Treasury civil servants that more taxes on wealth are on their way. I can see IHT starting at £200k within a couple of years of a Miliband Govt.
Burnham showing his lack of practical nous. Neil: When will the extra money for NHS etc come from in 2015/16? Burnham = The money will start flowing (from the mansion tax and loopholes) straight away....
That will raise a drop in the ocean. How stupid does he think people are? (you don't need to answer that)
Miliband claimed that these various polices would raise "hundreds of millions" only last night. Another opportunity for Paxo to laugh at him that he scorned for some reason. NHS budget currently north of 120 thousand millions.
Yes, I feel Paxman soft pedalled on the policy side and went in way to hot on the personal stuff. The raising of hundred of millions vs an £88bn deficit he may inherit is a joke. Paxman should have contrasted that and asked Ed where the rest of the £87bn would come from.
Paxman got soft and pulled his punches when he saw Ed was all at sea in the first five minutes.....
Burnham showing his lack of practical nous. Neil: When will the extra money for NHS etc come from in 2015/16? Burnham = The money will start flowing (from the mansion tax and loopholes) straight away....
That will raise a drop in the ocean. How stupid does he think people are? (you don't need to answer that)
Miliband claimed that these various polices would raise "hundreds of millions" only last night. Another opportunity for Paxo to laugh at him that he scorned for some reason. NHS budget currently north of 120 thousand millions.
I would expect the mansion tax to be extended a lot. Say down to £1m houses, and more and more taken in %.
And the rest....within 10 years it will be down to normal levels of house prices, because it is such an easy tax to collect.
I could easily see it being extended down to £500k within 10 years as it would not effect very much of Labour's core vote and hit the Tories very hard.
Burnham showing his lack of practical nous. Neil: When will the extra money for NHS etc come from in 2015/16? Burnham = The money will start flowing (from the mansion tax and loopholes) straight away....
That will raise a drop in the ocean. How stupid does he think people are? (you don't need to answer that)
Miliband claimed that these various polices would raise "hundreds of millions" only last night. Another opportunity for Paxo to laugh at him that he scorned for some reason. NHS budget currently north of 120 thousand millions.
Yes, I feel Paxman soft pedalled on the policy side and went in way to hot on the personal stuff. The raising of hundred of millions vs an £88bn deficit he may inherit is a joke. Paxman should have contrasted that and asked Ed where the rest of the £87bn would come from.
Agree completely. The north London Geek stuff was unedifying and uninformative. A focus on how Ed's government is going to increase spending on everything nice, cut spending overall and reduce the deficit at the same time would have been a much better use of time.
As I understood him, and he was deliberately vague, he is committed to: Real term increases in health spending. Maintaining real term spending on education. Maintaining aid as 0.7% of GDP. Reversing some modest cuts in welfare spending by reversing the bedroom tax and removing the cap on benefits. Reversing some (unspecified) cuts in LG expenditure.
He is presumably aware that the interest rate bill is only going up.
And yet he thinks he is going to cut the deficit by more (£75bn) over the course of the Parliament than Osborne has managed in the last 5 years.
Burnham showing his lack of practical nous. Neil: When will the extra money for NHS etc come from in 2015/16? Burnham = The money will start flowing (from the mansion tax and loopholes) straight away....
That will raise a drop in the ocean. How stupid does he think people are? (you don't need to answer that)
Miliband claimed that these various polices would raise "hundreds of millions" only last night. Another opportunity for Paxo to laugh at him that he scorned for some reason. NHS budget currently north of 120 thousand millions.
Yes, I feel Paxman soft pedalled on the policy side and went in way to hot on the personal stuff. The raising of hundred of millions vs an £88bn deficit he may inherit is a joke. Paxman should have contrasted that and asked Ed where the rest of the £87bn would come from.
Paxman got soft and pulled his punches when he saw Ed was all at sea in the first five minutes.....
Was it Burley that let slip to another journalist, that Ed was shaking like a shitting dog before his interview?
The right-wing loons who live on this blog may disagree but the public are very supportive of the regulation / price cap / prize freeze principle.
It may be highly populist, but Milliband is onto a winner here....
Until the lights go out and the operations get cancelled and so on.
The 1970s were far more regulated including price and wage controls and with entire industries controlled and funded by the state and we ended up in a terrible economic position. But with all these socialists getting elected, so be it.
Burnham showing his lack of practical nous. Neil: When will the extra money for NHS etc come from in 2015/16? Burnham = The money will start flowing (from the mansion tax and loopholes) straight away....
That will raise a drop in the ocean. How stupid does he think people are? (you don't need to answer that)
Miliband claimed that these various polices would raise "hundreds of millions" only last night. Another opportunity for Paxo to laugh at him that he scorned for some reason. NHS budget currently north of 120 thousand millions.
Yes, I feel Paxman soft pedalled on the policy side and went in way to hot on the personal stuff. The raising of hundred of millions vs an £88bn deficit he may inherit is a joke. Paxman should have contrasted that and asked Ed where the rest of the £87bn would come from.
Agree completely. The north London Geek stuff was unedifying and uninformative. A focus on how Ed's government is going to increase spending on everything nice, cut spending overall and reduce the deficit at the same time would have been a much better use of time.
As I understood him, and he was deliberately vague, he is committed to: Real term increases in health spending. Maintaining real term spending on education. Maintaining aid as 0.7% of GDP. Reversing some modest cuts in welfare spending by reversing the bedroom tax and removing the cap on benefits. Reversing some (unspecified) cuts in LG expenditure.
He is presumably aware that the interest rate bill is only going up.
And yet he thinks he is going to cut the deficit by more (£75bn) over the course of the Parliament than Osborne has managed in the last 5 years.
It is a fantasy that would make the SNP blush.
Ed said last night that Local Government would see more cuts if labour win.
One thing worth noting from Fisher's latest forecast is that swingback is over. He says:
"Further out from the election we were also forecasting government recovery and opposition setback effects. Now we are so close to the election — and because both Labour and the Conservatives are polling not far from their 2010 vote shares — there is little historical reason to expect much swing back for either of the two main parties."
They still think the Tories will outperform the poll and Labour underperform it by 1% each. This is on the basis that the polls have historically had that level of bias. I am sure that they have but most pollsters have tried to adjust their methodology to reflect that.
So a lead of 2 becomes a lead of 4 on a pretty dodgy basis and the Tories are the largest party. Well, it was an interesting election whilst it lasted. Hope it was profitable for you.
If we review the polls that have taken place in the last calendar year for both by-elections and the European elections, an assumption of polling error seems justified.
Every single Ashcroft and Survation at the by elections overstated the difference between Con/Lab in Labour's favour.
The same applies to the Europeans.
ICM had the most accurate 'gap' between the two, but the end result for the gap was still 1.5% better for CON.
YG,CR, Survation, Opinium and TNS were overly favourable to Labour on the Lab-Con gap by between 2.5 and 5.5%.
A repeat of this would have the Tories reasonably clear on vote share on may 7th.
That said, if Ed wins it will give a whole new meaning to VE Day on it's 70th anniversary on the 8th.
It's pretty nasty for sure, but it indicates that the tories think their best chance is to ruthlessly press home doubts that people have about Ed's fitness to govern. Will it work? We'll soon find out.
Burnham showing his lack of practical nous. Neil: When will the extra money for NHS etc come from in 2015/16? Burnham = The money will start flowing (from the mansion tax and loopholes) straight away....
That will raise a drop in the ocean. How stupid does he think people are? (you don't need to answer that)
Miliband claimed that these various polices would raise "hundreds of millions" only last night. Another opportunity for Paxo to laugh at him that he scorned for some reason. NHS budget currently north of 120 thousand millions.
Yes, I feel Paxman soft pedalled on the policy side and went in way to hot on the personal stuff. The raising of hundred of millions vs an £88bn deficit he may inherit is a joke. Paxman should have contrasted that and asked Ed where the rest of the £87bn would come from.
Paxman got soft and pulled his punches when he saw Ed was all at sea in the first five minutes.....
Channel 4 and OFCOM have received over 400 complaints about alleged bias against Weird Ed
Burnham showing his lack of practical nous. Neil: When will the extra money for NHS etc come from in 2015/16? Burnham = The money will start flowing (from the mansion tax and loopholes) straight away....
That will raise a drop in the ocean. How stupid does he think people are? (you don't need to answer that)
Miliband claimed that these various polices would raise "hundreds of millions" only last night. Another opportunity for Paxo to laugh at him that he scorned for some reason. NHS budget currently north of 120 thousand millions.
I would expect the mansion tax to be extended a lot. Say down to £1m houses, and more and more taken in %.
If introduced, does anyone realistically imagine the 'Mansion Tax' would stop at £2million? It will go exactly the same way as inheritance tax and soon penalise those much further down the chain.
I agree. Peston's recent article has the view from the Treasury civil servants that more taxes on wealth are on their way. I can see IHT starting at £200k within a couple of years of a Miliband Govt.
Inheritance Tax £200k? Thats a tax that hits almost anyone who has a house, and most certainly anyone who has a house south of Cheshire. It would be electoral suicide, they might be tempted to remove the capital gains exemption for primary residence, but again, electoral suicide.
Burnham showing his lack of practical nous. Neil: When will the extra money for NHS etc come from in 2015/16? Burnham = The money will start flowing (from the mansion tax and loopholes) straight away....
That will raise a drop in the ocean. How stupid does he think people are? (you don't need to answer that)
Miliband claimed that these various polices would raise "hundreds of millions" only last night. Another opportunity for Paxo to laugh at him that he scorned for some reason. NHS budget currently north of 120 thousand millions.
Yes, I feel Paxman soft pedalled on the policy side and went in way to hot on the personal stuff. The raising of hundred of millions vs an £88bn deficit he may inherit is a joke. Paxman should have contrasted that and asked Ed where the rest of the £87bn would come from.
Agree completely. The north London Geek stuff was unedifying and uninformative. A focus on how Ed's government is going to increase spending on everything nice, cut spending overall and reduce the deficit at the same time would have been a much better use of time.
As I understood him, and he was deliberately vague, he is committed to: Real term increases in health spending. Maintaining real term spending on education. Maintaining aid as 0.7% of GDP. Reversing some modest cuts in welfare spending by reversing the bedroom tax and removing the cap on benefits. Reversing some (unspecified) cuts in LG expenditure.
He is presumably aware that the interest rate bill is only going up.
And yet he thinks he is going to cut the deficit by more (£75bn) over the course of the Parliament than Osborne has managed in the last 5 years.
It is a fantasy that would make the SNP blush.
Ed said last night that Local Government would see more cuts if labour win.
But he also blamed Tory cuts (the nasty kind) for problems with LG services.
Burnham showing his lack of practical nous. Neil: When will the extra money for NHS etc come from in 2015/16? Burnham = The money will start flowing (from the mansion tax and loopholes) straight away....
That will raise a drop in the ocean. How stupid does he think people are? (you don't need to answer that)
Miliband claimed that these various polices would raise "hundreds of millions" only last night. Another opportunity for Paxo to laugh at him that he scorned for some reason. NHS budget currently north of 120 thousand millions.
Yes, I feel Paxman soft pedalled on the policy side and went in way to hot on the personal stuff. The raising of hundred of millions vs an £88bn deficit he may inherit is a joke. Paxman should have contrasted that and asked Ed where the rest of the £87bn would come from.
Agree completely. The north London Geek stuff was unedifying and uninformative. A focus on how Ed's government is going to increase spending on everything nice, cut spending overall and reduce the deficit at the same time would have been a much better use of time.
As I understood him, and he was deliberately vague, he is committed to: Real term increases in health spending. Maintaining real term spending on education. Maintaining aid as 0.7% of GDP. Reversing some modest cuts in welfare spending by reversing the bedroom tax and removing the cap on benefits. Reversing some (unspecified) cuts in LG expenditure.
He is presumably aware that the interest rate bill is only going up.
And yet he thinks he is going to cut the deficit by more (£75bn) over the course of the Parliament than Osborne has managed in the last 5 years.
It is a fantasy that would make the SNP blush.
Ed said last night that Local Government would see more cuts if labour win.
But he also blamed Tory cuts (the nasty kind) for problems with LG services.
Tory cuts bad and nasty BOO! Labour cuts are considered and kind, hurrah!
Burnham showing his lack of practical nous. Neil: When will the extra money for NHS etc come from in 2015/16? Burnham = The money will start flowing (from the mansion tax and loopholes) straight away....
That will raise a drop in the ocean. How stupid does he think people are? (you don't need to answer that)
Miliband claimed that these various polices would raise "hundreds of millions" only last night. Another opportunity for Paxo to laugh at him that he scorned for some reason. NHS budget currently north of 120 thousand millions.
Yes, I feel Paxman soft pedalled on the policy side and went in way to hot on the personal stuff. The raising of hundred of millions vs an £88bn deficit he may inherit is a joke. Paxman should have contrasted that and asked Ed where the rest of the £87bn would come from.
Paxman got soft and pulled his punches when he saw Ed was all at sea in the first five minutes.....
Was it Burley that let slip to another journalist, that Ed was shaking like a shitting dog before his interview?
The day you stand up in front of an audience and your leg doesnt shake, and you dont have butterflies in your tummy its time to stop!!
Tory cuts bad and nasty BOO! Labour cuts are considered and kind, hurrah!
Will there actually be more than token Labour cuts ? Some how I doubt it, they will get some tame experts to go on the media and tell everyone how they can't cut anything like as much as they "wanted" to, because of [insert various reasons why it is all the Tories fault], and then go on a spending spree and try and buy the next election.
2020: Look how much we have increased the spending on the NHS, more schools, more hospitals, more teachers, millions of nurses and doctors, don't pay any attention to the man behind the curtain counting the deficit zooming past £3tn. [Insert selection of shroud waving allegations about the baby eating Tories]
Far less politically expensive, and if they are lucky and the markets are distracted by Greece, Spain, Venezuela etc. and don't baulk they might get away with it.
@jonwalker121: Good old fashioned Labour selection chaos in Coventry NW - party may ask Geoffrey Robinson to stay on to avoid row! http://t.co/vLyDJyk0zK
Once the level creeps down, as it surely will, it will start hitting the type of AB's Labour are very reliant on to keep them afloat in 'village' colonies like Stoke Newington and Dulwich and so on.
Their natural vote in the centre of town is already starting to be displaced by the benefit cap, and there can be little doubt that London Housing Benefit should be very high on any incoming government's hit-list for welfare reduction. A quarter of all housing benefit is spent on London. Alienating their ABs is unlikely to end well.
One of the reasons Labour is picking up in the 'burbs is because it's voters can't afford London Central and are having to move further out. Over time Lab will start to fade in what used to be the poorest parts of inner London as the money rolls in.
You can get 20/1 that Nicola Sturgeon wins the seven way debate with Coral, compared with 8/1 elsewhere. Unlikely, but she'll be spewing populist soundbites about fairness and equality all night.
Despite the disaster Labour will be for the Country it will at least be comical watching all Eds promises fall apart. Some of these policy annoucements are just bizarre.
You can get 20/1 that Nicola Sturgeon wins the seven way debate with Coral, compared with 8/1 elsewhere. Unlikely, but she'll be spewing populist soundbites about fairness and equality all night.
Surely that will depend on whether the poll used to settle the bet is taken in Scotland or England?
You can get 20/1 that Nicola Sturgeon wins the seven way debate with Coral, compared with 8/1 elsewhere. Unlikely, but she'll be spewing populist soundbites about fairness and equality all night.
The question is the extent to which the 92% of the country that can't vote for her party discount her. It would be the same with Dodds, if he was in the debate, even if, however unlikely, he had some fantastically interesting views, would I actually care, since I can't vote for his party.
Tory cuts bad and nasty BOO! Labour cuts are considered and kind, hurrah!
Will there actually be more than token Labour cuts ? Some how I doubt it, they will get some tame experts to go on the media and tell everyone how they can't cut anything like as much as they "wanted" to, because of [insert various reasons why it is all the Tories fault], and then go on a spending spree and try and buy the next election.
2020: Look how much we have increased the spending on the NHS, more schools, more hospitals, more teachers, millions of nurses and doctors, don't pay any attention to the man behind the curtain counting the deficit zooming past £3tn. [Insert selection of shroud waving allegations about the baby eating Tories]
Far less politically expensive, and if they are lucky and the markets are distracted by Greece, Spain, Venezuela etc. and don't baulk they might get away with it.
Once you pass the budget, those cuts are in there. They're happening. The Government then doesnt have the authority to say we cant do it, without coming back to parliament for more money.
The budget really doesnt have much room in it. The really easy stuff has gone. They are going to find bugger all tax trying to get rid of 'loopholes'.
They will have a massive problem if they are a minority and dependent on others in an informal way. There is no way that SNP or Libdems are going to vote for anything that cuts spending.
Why would they? I could see the deficit not decreasing over the next five years. My experience of managing budgets is you have to cut just to stand still.
Theres going to be a lot of public servants expecting a pay rise as well!
Despite the disaster Labour will be for the Country it will at least be comical watching all Eds promises fall apart. Some of these policy annoucements are just bizarre.
It will be like France, except we have to live here while it's happening instead of laughing across the channel...
Tory cuts bad and nasty BOO! Labour cuts are considered and kind, hurrah!
Will there actually be more than token Labour cuts ? Some how I doubt it, they will get some tame experts to go on the media and tell everyone how they can't cut anything like as much as they "wanted" to, because of [insert various reasons why it is all the Tories fault], and then go on a spending spree and try and buy the next election.
2020: Look how much we have increased the spending on the NHS, more schools, more hospitals, more teachers, millions of nurses and doctors, don't pay any attention to the man behind the curtain counting the deficit zooming past £3tn. [Insert selection of shroud waving allegations about the baby eating Tories]
Far less politically expensive, and if they are lucky and the markets are distracted by Greece, Spain, Venezuela etc. and don't baulk they might get away with it.
I really don't think they will because the difference this time is our debt/GDP ratio is in the high 80s compared with sub 40 before Gordon Brown went on his splurge. We could really reach crisis levels very quickly from here.
More likely is that when the world economy slows down around 2018 (shockingly and unforseeably after nearly 10 years of consistent growth) this will become the excuse for another rip of Keynesian spending to lead us into the next election.
Rupert Murdoch ✔ @rupertmurdoch Thanks for 2 mentions, Ed Miliband. Only met once for all of 2 minutes when you embarrassed me with over the top flattery. 10:27 PM - 26 Mar 2015
Tory cuts bad and nasty BOO! Labour cuts are considered and kind, hurrah!
Will there actually be more than token Labour cuts ? Some how I doubt it, they will get some tame experts to go on the media and tell everyone how they can't cut anything like as much as they "wanted" to, because of [insert various reasons why it is all the Tories fault], and then go on a spending spree and try and buy the next election.
2020: Look how much we have increased the spending on the NHS, more schools, more hospitals, more teachers, millions of nurses and doctors, don't pay any attention to the man behind the curtain counting the deficit zooming past £3tn. [Insert selection of shroud waving allegations about the baby eating Tories]
Far less politically expensive, and if they are lucky and the markets are distracted by Greece, Spain, Venezuela etc. and don't baulk they might get away with it.
Once you pass the budget, those cuts are in there. They're happening. The Government then doesnt have the authority to say we cant do it, without coming back to parliament for more money.
The budget really doesnt have much room in it. The really easy stuff has gone. They are going to find bugger all tax trying to get rid of 'loopholes'.
They will have a massive problem if they are a minority and dependent on others in an informal way. There is no way that SNP or Libdems are going to vote for anything that cuts spending.
Why would they? I could see the deficit not decreasing over the next five years. My experience of managing budgets is you have to cut just to stand still.
Theres going to be a lot of public servants expecting a pay rise as well!
Precisely, which is why I don't think they will do it. There will be a big smoke screen about why they can't cut anything of substance and how it was the Tories fault, some fairly blatant tax rises on tall tulips like Bankers to provide some political covering fire, and a lot more borrowing, and keeping their fingers crossed that the markets have bigger fish to fry than raising UK interest rates when other countries are screwing up faster.
Despite the disaster Labour will be for the Country it will at least be comical watching all Eds promises fall apart. Some of these policy annoucements are just bizarre.
It will be like France, except we have to live here while it's happening instead of laughing across the channel...
Yes but maybe that is the shock that voters need to finally turn away from socialism.
Tory cuts bad and nasty BOO! Labour cuts are considered and kind, hurrah!
Will there actually be more than token Labour cuts ? Some how I doubt it, they will get some tame experts to go on the media and tell everyone how they can't cut anything like as much as they "wanted" to, because of [insert various reasons why it is all the Tories fault], and then go on a spending spree and try and buy the next election.
2020: Look how much we have increased the spending on the NHS, more schools, more hospitals, more teachers, millions of nurses and doctors, don't pay any attention to the man behind the curtain counting the deficit zooming past £3tn. [Insert selection of shroud waving allegations about the baby eating Tories]
Far less politically expensive, and if they are lucky and the markets are distracted by Greece, Spain, Venezuela etc. and don't baulk they might get away with it.
I really don't think they will because the difference this time is our debt/GDP ratio is in the high 80s compared with sub 40 before Gordon Brown went on his splurge. We could really reach crisis levels very quickly from here.
More likely is that when the world economy slows down around 2018 (shockingly and unforseeably after nearly 10 years of consistent growth) this will become the excuse for another rip of Keynesian spending to lead us into the next election.
Keynesian economic philosophy determines that right now we should be tightening spending markedly.
When the next inevitable bust happens then you let rip with huge capital infrastructure spending.
But right now anyone quoting Keynes should be advocating spending cuts.
Despite the disaster Labour will be for the Country it will at least be comical watching all Eds promises fall apart. Some of these policy annoucements are just bizarre.
It will be like France, except we have to live here while it's happening instead of laughing across the channel...
Yes but maybe that is the shock that voters need to finally turn away from socialism.
Sadly I feel that is optimistic, most voters only know about what happens in France to the extent that is it visible out the car window between the cross channel ferry terminal and the hypermarkets where they buy they cut price fags and booze.
Despite the disaster Labour will be for the Country it will at least be comical watching all Eds promises fall apart. Some of these policy annoucements are just bizarre.
It will be like France, except we have to live here while it's happening instead of laughing across the channel...
Yes but maybe that is the shock that voters need to finally turn away from socialism.
Sadly I feel that is optimistic, most voters only know about what happens in France to the extent that is it visible out the car window between the cross channel ferry terminal and the hypermarkets where they buy they cut price fags and booze.
Maybe somebody needs to point Miliband OTT praise for Holland's "new" approach to "resetting the markets" and alike in France?
Tory cuts bad and nasty BOO! Labour cuts are considered and kind, hurrah!
Will there actually be more than token Labour cuts ? Some how I doubt it, they will get some tame experts to go on the media and tell everyone how they can't cut anything like as much as they "wanted" to, because of [insert various reasons why it is all the Tories fault], and then go on a spending spree and try and buy the next election.
2020: Look how much we have increased the spending on the NHS, more schools, more hospitals, more teachers, millions of nurses and doctors, don't pay any attention to the man behind the curtain counting the deficit zooming past £3tn. [Insert selection of shroud waving allegations about the baby eating Tories]
Far less politically expensive, and if they are lucky and the markets are distracted by Greece, Spain, Venezuela etc. and don't baulk they might get away with it.
I really don't think they will because the difference this time is our debt/GDP ratio is in the high 80s compared with sub 40 before Gordon Brown went on his splurge. We could really reach crisis levels very quickly from here.
More likely is that when the world economy slows down around 2018 (shockingly and unforseeably after nearly 10 years of consistent growth) this will become the excuse for another rip of Keynesian spending to lead us into the next election.
Keynesian economic philosophy determines that right now we should be tightening spending markedly.
When the next inevitable bust happens then you let rip with huge capital infrastructure spending.
But right now anyone quoting Keynes should be advocating spending cuts.
DavidL: "One thing worth noting from Fisher's latest forecast is that swingback is over." A rather odd comment by Fisher I thought at precisely the time when the Tories take a 2% lead over Labour, especially after nineteen successive weeks when the Red Team's share of the vote he applied had remained absolutely unchanged and in fact had only varied by 1% since early October last year.
Will this 5% cap on profits by private sector apply to GPs? Now that would be something.
Companies will just pull out and put much more pressure on the NHS. Its madness. We need more private companies providing NHS treatment as they are so much better at it and do it much more efficiently. Having less will be a disaster
I note Miliband was bragging about standing up to Murdoch...now about the Mirror and hacking...still waiting for his public statements of disgust and demands for an inquiry.
you'll see a graph about 1/3rd of the way down, below features and analysis
"Who won the interview contest on social media?" they ask. No bias at all intended by the fact they've cropped the graph so that it's mainly the part where Ed was speaking.
Burnham showing his lack of practical nous. Neil: When will the extra money for NHS etc come from in 2015/16? Burnham = The money will start flowing (from the mansion tax and loopholes) straight away....
That will raise a drop in the ocean. How stupid does he think people are? (you don't need to answer that)
Miliband claimed that these various polices would raise "hundreds of millions" only last night. Another opportunity for Paxo to laugh at him that he scorned for some reason. NHS budget currently north of 120 thousand millions.
Yes, I feel Paxman soft pedalled on the policy side and went in way to hot on the personal stuff. The raising of hundred of millions vs an £88bn deficit he may inherit is a joke. Paxman should have contrasted that and asked Ed where the rest of the £87bn would come from.
Paxman got soft and pulled his punches when he saw Ed was all at sea in the first five minutes.....
Channel 4 and OFCOM have received over 400 complaints about alleged bias against Weird Ed
Paxman was an arse with him , and to give Ed his due he did stand up to the smirking wazzock
Will this 5% cap on profits by private sector apply to GPs? Now that would be something.
Companies will just pull out and put much more pressure on the NHS. Its madness. We need more private companies providing NHS treatment as they are so much better at it and do it much more efficiently. Having less will be a disaster
you'll see a graph about 1/3rd of the way down, below features and analysis
"Who won the interview contest on social media?" they ask. No bias at all intended by the fact they've cropped the graph so that it's mainly the part where Ed was speaking.
Also...its social media...I know in the rarefied world of the BBC, they think everybody lives their life through twitter, but it is overwhelmingly dominated by the young, and not as Yentob would say particularly reflective of the C2 and D's....
Will this 5% cap on profits by private sector apply to GPs? Now that would be something.
Companies will just pull out and put much more pressure on the NHS. Its madness. We need more private companies providing NHS treatment as they are so much better at it and do it much more efficiently. Having less will be a disaster
Exhibit 1 Hinchinbrooke
What is your solution ? Rather than throwing rocks, tell us how a proper Labour government should do it. Remember you can't spend money we don't have. Ed is going to be cutting the deficit we are told so there wont be more than a inflation based increase in health spending.
If Cons can get a majority at the next GE then it goes straight to a million.
MMT?
MMT ?
IHT tax cut for the rich paid for by the Magic Money Tree?
The rich ? Like almost everyone inside the M25 ?
A tax cut paid for by?
Increased tax revenue from a booming economy, the bit you lefties always overlook.
Your priority for increasing tax revenues is a tax cut for almost everybody inside the M25 whilst introducing massive additional cuts to benefits and public services.
Kay Burley @KayBurley · 2h2 hours ago Oh look @guardian have bothered to write about my frock. My 37 years as a journalist have all been worth it http://trib.al/2iERwyc
If Cons can get a majority at the next GE then it goes straight to a million.
MMT?
MMT ?
IHT tax cut for the rich paid for by the Magic Money Tree?
The rich ? Like almost everyone inside the M25 ?
A tax cut paid for by?
Increased tax revenue from a booming economy, the bit you lefties always overlook.
Your priority for increasing tax revenues is a tax cut for almost everybody inside the M25 whilst introducing massive additional cuts to benefits and public services.
Typical Tory logic
Yes, yes, yes, but stop changing the subject, how are you going to fix the NHS while cutting the deficit, and replacing the private providers that walk when their profits are cut to 5%. Don't be shy now.
Comments
It was just programmed in to reports and public perception..Labour wouldn't do such a thing to the NHS, the Tories might.
When was the survey done? A delayed polling date raises questions about retrosepctive reliability, and also raises the issue of buyer's remorse in those who feel fooled/cheated by the vow.
But, in any case, that does not change the practical point that the Unionists believed it was necessary and made the Vow - and are now being held to it.
Labour could be running the country in six weeks time and it's plain to see that they have done very little meaningful preparation. This is not a group of people who have crunched the numbers, been properly briefed, and have some idea of what they will be doing over the next few months. It's a group of people that are winging it in every way.
What is also piss poor is our media who don't seem to want, care or able to react when politician throw out nonsense like this.
My own departments contract for next year is for the same work as this year on a block contract. Anything over that we will not get paid for. With referrals rising about 5% per year we will need to turn back a fair amount of work to balance the books.
Funny way to run a business, or a needs based health service.
http://www.scottishreferendumstudy.com/files/2015/01/RHUL-slides.pdf
The surveys were done before the referendum and BEFORE The Vow.
Some might say that is great, less avoidance of tax, but I somehow doubt we will see reductions in Income Tax or Council Tax to offset the hit to "normal" folk.
https://t.co/tD496lfWc5
I will be voting for it in the knowledge that 8% of what it raises goes to the Scottish NHS.
Presumably you will vote against it as you think people in £2m mansions paying extra is a bad way to fund extra nurses for the NHS
It will go exactly the same way as inheritance tax and soon penalise those much further down the chain.
Actually I think it's a crap idea, but would be open to extending Council Tax bands.
Fishers seems to be the most Con seats 296
Lebo and Norpoth on 288
Stegmaier and Williams on 233 Con seats (!)
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CBGsxRSWYAA3TPq.jpg
As I understood him, and he was deliberately vague, he is committed to:
Real term increases in health spending.
Maintaining real term spending on education.
Maintaining aid as 0.7% of GDP.
Reversing some modest cuts in welfare spending by reversing the bedroom tax and removing the cap on benefits.
Reversing some (unspecified) cuts in LG expenditure.
He is presumably aware that the interest rate bill is only going up.
And yet he thinks he is going to cut the deficit by more (£75bn) over the course of the Parliament than Osborne has managed in the last 5 years.
It is a fantasy that would make the SNP blush.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/32085427
Every single Ashcroft and Survation at the by elections overstated the difference between Con/Lab in Labour's favour.
The same applies to the Europeans.
ICM had the most accurate 'gap' between the two, but the end result for the gap was still 1.5% better for CON.
YG,CR, Survation, Opinium and TNS were overly favourable to Labour on the Lab-Con gap by between 2.5 and 5.5%.
A repeat of this would have the Tories reasonably clear on vote share on may 7th.
That said, if Ed wins it will give a whole new meaning to VE Day on it's 70th anniversary on the 8th.
If its funding extra nurses for the NHS, then anything is justified I guess.
Dealing crack? ah but its to fund extra nurses for the NHS.
Oh that's alright then...
Labour cuts are considered and kind, hurrah!
1200 minutes
https://yougov.co.uk/news/2015/03/25/two-tribes-ukip/
2020: Look how much we have increased the spending on the NHS, more schools, more hospitals, more teachers, millions of nurses and doctors, don't pay any attention to the man behind the curtain counting the deficit zooming past £3tn. [Insert selection of shroud waving allegations about the baby eating Tories]
Far less politically expensive, and if they are lucky and the markets are distracted by Greece, Spain, Venezuela etc. and don't baulk they might get away with it.
Once the level creeps down, as it surely will, it will start hitting the type of AB's Labour are very reliant on to keep them afloat in 'village' colonies like Stoke Newington and Dulwich and so on.
Their natural vote in the centre of town is already starting to be displaced by the benefit cap, and there can be little doubt that London Housing Benefit should be very high on any incoming government's hit-list for welfare reduction. A quarter of all housing benefit is spent on London. Alienating their ABs is unlikely to end well.
One of the reasons Labour is picking up in the 'burbs is because it's voters can't afford London Central and are having to move further out. Over time Lab will start to fade in what used to be the poorest parts of inner London as the money rolls in.
Most likely freeze it to get more money via drag.
If Cons can get a majority at the next GE then it goes straight to a million.
These Labour lads are not too bright with the numbers are they
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/general-election-2015/politics-blog/11497669/Every-single-possible-coalition-and-post-election-power-sharing-deal-in-one-chart.html
@krishgm: A few thoughts on what difference last night's debate makes http://t.co/84tfm9PY40
Now that would be something.
The budget really doesnt have much room in it. The really easy stuff has gone. They are going to find bugger all tax trying to get rid of 'loopholes'.
They will have a massive problem if they are a minority and dependent on others in an informal way. There is no way that SNP or Libdems are going to vote for anything that cuts spending.
Why would they? I could see the deficit not decreasing over the next five years. My experience of managing budgets is you have to cut just to stand still.
Theres going to be a lot of public servants expecting a pay rise as well!
More likely is that when the world economy slows down around 2018 (shockingly and unforseeably after nearly 10 years of consistent growth) this will become the excuse for another rip of Keynesian spending to lead us into the next election.
Thanks for 2 mentions, Ed Miliband. Only met once for all of 2 minutes when you embarrassed me with over the top flattery.
10:27 PM - 26 Mar 2015
When the next inevitable bust happens then you let rip with huge capital infrastructure spending.
But right now anyone quoting Keynes should be advocating spending cuts.
I am utterly convinced IHT is makework for lawyers and tax accountants. Obviously extra bands creates some extra work for surveyors but hey ho.
A rather odd comment by Fisher I thought at precisely the time when the Tories take a 2% lead over Labour, especially after nineteen successive weeks when the Red Team's share of the vote he applied had remained absolutely unchanged and in fact had only varied by 1% since early October last year.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election/2015
you'll see a graph about 1/3rd of the way down, below features and analysis
"Who won the interview contest on social media?" they ask. No bias at all intended by the fact they've cropped the graph so that it's mainly the part where Ed was speaking.
Labour and Tories lead one another by a massive...... 0.0% (just like two Sundays ago!)
People not getting free stuff aren't "paying" either way.
Typical Tory logic
https://twitter.com/KayBurley/status/581402953795416064/photo/1
Oh look @guardian have bothered to write about my frock. My 37 years as a journalist have all been worth it
http://trib.al/2iERwyc